BY IRIS B. HOLTON
Sentinel City Editor

Last month, Gerber Life launched a contest that would provide a $20,000 to its winner. A student in Tampa is competing for the scholarship.

However, the winner will be determined by votes. Neela Rogers is the student and she needs the help of the community to win. The contest began on August 1st and the voting will end on September 15th.

Members of the community can vote every day until the contest ends. Neela hopes people will go on line and cast a vote for her and her Girl Scouts Brownie Troop.

A second grade student at Temple Terrace Elementary School, Neela is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. David (Niccole) Rogers. She is the granddaughter of Ms. Irene Matthews, Ms. Evelyne Dawson, and Ernest Tarpley.

Neela is an advanced reader who enjoys reading to other students.

The competition is offered to students between the ages of 3 and 8 years old. The students compete by drawing an illustration of what they want to be when they become adults. Then they encourage their respective communities to vote for them.

“She likes to draw and talk about the future and that is what this contest is about. Neela has always talked about being a teacher and archeologist when she grows up. I asked her if she wanted to enter the contest.

“She bounced the idea around for a week and she finally came back excited and ready to enter,” her mother said.

Mrs. Rogers is spreading the word about her 7-year-old daughter and asking family, friends, co-workers, and others to vote for her daughter.
Once Neela saw her art work on facebook and that people were voting for her she became really excited. She can hardly contain her excitement because she feels that she is going to win the contest, her mother said.

“Neela is the only Tampa Bay student in this race and there is no reason she should not win with such a large community voting for her,” Mrs. Rogers said.
In addition to winning the contest, Neela wants her 10 other troop members to have a chance to attend college. She plans to establish a college fund for them using some of the cash reward she will receive if she wins.

Anyone interested in helping Neela win can go to: facebook.com/gerberlife and click on college scholarship, then select the name of the contestant, review the art work, and cast your vote.